Antioch Odessa
Attributes of God- Steve - Grace, Mercy & Patience
- All My Boast Is In Jesus
- God is Faithful (Psalm 114)
- His Mercy Is More
- Good morning, turn with me in your Bibles to 2 Peter chapter 1. We once again have the honor and privilege to open up God’s Word and learn about God so that we can live for Him.
2 Peter 1:12 ESV 12 Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have.Peter here is reminding us of the Christian virtues or qualities that are true of every believer. Understanding God and how He desires for us to live is such an important thing in our lives because it helps to assure us of our faith in Christ. We often need to be reminded of how to live for God. As your pastor I know the importance even in my own life of repetition and daily reminders. We as a church often need not only new insights, but we also need to be reminded of old truths that are impressed upon our hearts. We have been learning over the past several weeks about the attributes of God, and while this might not be new for you, we often need to be reminded of how mighty, holy, loving and all-knowing our God is. A church that is always chasing after the newest thing or the most culturally relevant thing will eventually drift away from the firm foundation of truth. While the church that is often reminded of who God is and what He has done for us will be reminded to stand firm when the storm comes. Repetition is necessary because we as Christians live our lives out in the midst of spiritual warfare. We can also easily forget things that we know to be true and drift away from following Christ. The pressures of daily life, the temptations, and the false ideas of this world can cause us to forget the convictions that we once held with clarity. We as Christians can benefit greatly from returning again and again to the foundational truths of the faith and being reminded that we serve a holy, and mighty and all wise, and all knowing God.Today the title of our message is, “Trust in an All-Knowing God.” Paul compares God’s knowledge and wisdom to a bottomless vault of treasure. He says in Romans 11 and verse 33, “O the depth of the riches both of wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” Every believer should run after this treasure of knowledge and wisdom and yet many don’t. We live in a day and age where many people trust in the wisdom and knowledge of godless people, people who don’t know God, nor do they fear Him. We see many people today who are trusting in the folly of this world. The book of Proverbs explains to us that before we can hope to gain any kind of wisdom or knowledge we must first fear God and have a deep reverence for Him. True wisdom and knowledge come from God.Proverbs 2:6 ESV 6 For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;The theologian Louis Berkhof said, “The knowledge of God may be defined as that perfection of God. He in His unique manner, knows himself and all things possible and actual in one eternal and most simple act.”The reason why we must see an importance about the knowledge of God is that it should lead you and I to trust totally on God and to know God on a deeper level. If you desire to truly love God and follow Him, then I want you to know that wisdom and knowledge of God are truly available to anyone who seeks them.God’s Word has much to teach us about the Knowledge of God. We see this both in the Old Testament and the New Testament. Turn with me to Job chapter 37.Job 37:16 ESV 16 Do you know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge,1 John 3:20 ESV 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.You may ask today, what does this mean for my life? How does it apply to me today? What is the Big Idea here? I want you to see that God knows everything. He has infinite understanding while we don’t know very much. We desperately need God’s help and knowledge as we journey through this life. Apart from God we wonder around hopelessly.Why should we trust in an All-Knowing God? Well, because we know that God is perfect in knowledge and He knows everything. Here are just a few reasons to trust in God.1. God knows Himself.1. Dios se conoce a sí mismo.God knows himself. This made sound funny, but it is a wonderful truth since God’s own being or character is infinite or unlimited. Because God is perfect and omniscient (all knowing) than only He can fully know himself in every detail. We know that this is true because the Apostle Paul writes about this in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Turn over there with me. I want you to see this.1 Corinthians 2:10–11 ESV 10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.We cannot fully understand or know God other than what He gives us through His word, however we have all that we need to know about Him in order to love Him and follow Him. With that said, God in the 3 persons of the Holy Trinity is fully known. John also takes time to help us see that God knows himself.1 John 1:5 ESV 5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.The word light here helps us to understand that there is both moral purity and full knowledge or awareness. God is light, and He is fully aware or knowledgable. If there is no darkness at all in God and He is entirely light, then God is himself entirely perfect, holy, and filled with self-knowledge. However, He also knows much more. This should lead us to understand that we can trust God! Why? Point number two shows us why.2. God knows about actual things.2. Dios conoce las cosas reales.What I mean here is that God knows about all things that exist and that will happen. Clearly we see this when God created the universe and all that is in it back in Genesis. Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1 tell us, “that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The book of Hebrews tells us that God is the one before whom,Hebrews 4:13 ESV 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.Then in the book of Job we are told this.Job 28:24 ESV 24 For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.We also learn through Scripture that God also knows the future, because He is the one who speaks these powerful words in Isaiah chapter 46.Isaiah 46:9–10 ESV 9 remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’God also knows the exact details of our lives. In Psalm 139 King David reflects on the amazing detail of God’s knowledge about our lives.Psalm 139:1–2 ESV 1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me! 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.Psalm 139:16 ESV 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.My point is that God knows you. He knows the number of hairs on your head. He knows everything about you. If you are in Christ you are never lost. He knows about your health, he knows about your job, your pain, your heartache, all of your life. If you are stressed out today and anxious and nobody else knows what is going on in your life, God does. God is perfect in knowledge so run to Him and ask Him for help and guidance. Trust that He will bring you through the storms.Matthew 6:8 ESV 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.Remember this promise today. Even though God knows what you need, still come before Him and seek His help and guidance.3. God knows about possible things.3. Dios conoce las cosas posibles.I tell you this because there are times in Scripture where God does give us information about events that might happen, but that do not come to pass. Here is a perfect example. Turn with me to 1 Samuel chapter 23. David is on the run from Saul. David had rescued the city of Keilah from the Philistines and then stayed there for a short time. David seeks God and asks Him whether Saul would come there to attack him? Let’s check this out.1 Samuel 23:11–13 ESV 11 Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? O Lord, the God of Israel, please tell your servant.” And the Lord said, “He will come down.” 12 Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the Lord said, “They will surrender you.” 13 Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went wherever they could go. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the expedition.My point is that God knows all things that could possibly happen. Because God knows himself, he knows everything he is able to do, which includes all things that are possible. God’s knowledge is incredible church. Listen to what the Psalmist tells us in Psalm 139.Psalm 139:6 ESV 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.This leads us to another reasons to trust in God.4. God knows about everything.4. Dios sabe todo.God is fully aware of everything. If God wanted to share with us how many stars are in the sky he would. If he wanted to tell us how many grains of sand were on the seashore he could. God knows everything. There is nothing that He is not aware of. God does not have to take time and think about things like we do. God knows the end from the beginning. God doesn’t have to learn and He never forgets about anything. God’s knowledge never changes or grows. If God were ever to have to learn about something than He would not be Omniscient. From all of eternity God has known all things that would happen and all things that He would do.There are some people who disagree that God knows everything and would say, but doesn’t God forget about our sins Pastor? Yes, of course He does. We are reminded of this in Isaiah 43.Isaiah 43:25 ESV 25 “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.What this means however, is that God will never again let the knowledge of these sins play any part in the way that He relates to us. He will forget then in his relationship to us. And every believer can and should be thankful for this. When it comes to evil and sinful things that happen in this world God does not wish or desire, or think in a positive way about sin and yet He does allow it to happen. Again, I want you to see here that our Mighty and Powerful God knows about everything. He knows our sin and because of this we should fear Him and seek His forgiveness when we do sin against Him.5. God knows the future.5. Dios conoce el futuro.When we talk about God knowing all things, we also see in Scripture that God even knows the future. His knowledge reaches to all places including what is to come. God’s knowledge not only reaches to all times, it reaches to the past, the present, and the future. God’s omniscience of the future is called his foreknowledge. We see in Scripture that God reveals future events before they take place.There are some people and even some churches who deny that God foreknows the future free choices of angels and men. These people are known as open theists. They believe that God does not know things that cannot be known, such as the free acts of people that have not yet occured. This means that someone who is an open theist believes the future is not fixed or certain but open even to God.But open theism or the believe that God does not know the future does not line up with what God’s Word teaches. Open theism would mean that God does not know how the world will end, who will be the next president, what will happen with the stock market next week, or who will be saved. If God did not know these things than God would not be truly omniscient or all-knowing. Scripture clearly tells us in Isaiah that God knows the end from the beginning. The one true God of this universe knows and declares the future including future free human actions before it occurs.Isaiah 46:9–10 ESV 9 remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’There are many wonderful examples of God’s foreknowledge in Scripture. In Genesis chapter 15 God told Abraham that his offspring would go to a foreign land and be slaves for four centuries. And this is exactly what happened when Joseph and his family headed to Egypt as the Hebrew people were eventually afflicted for this time.Genesis 15:13 ESV 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.God also revealed to Joseph in Genesis chapter 37 that he would rule over his brothers and individuals years ahead of the actual events.The Lord made it a test of every true prophet that his prophecies must certainly come true. (Deut. 18:22)However the greatest event in history that fulfilled prophecy was the coming work of Christ who was God’s Son. The whole theme of the old testament was that a greater Adam was coming. A perfect spotless lamb, a perfect priest in that of Jesus would come as the Messiah to take away the sins of His people. He would come and be born of a virgin, in the town of Bethlehem. And all of this did come to pass. What we see here church is that this is the fulfillment of God’s plan revealed to us in Scripture.Closing: God perfect and wonderful knowledge of the past, present, and future has so many helpful applications for our lives. First, this should cause us to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord of the future and we are not. It can be so easy in our lives to get ahead of ourselves and make this plan and that plan. Instead, we must make our plans by remaining humble because we do not know what tomorrow will bring. Listen to what James tells us.James 4:14–15 ESV 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. Another application for our life in understanding God’s knowledge is that it should cause us not to trust in anything else besides God’s promises for the future.2 Kings 10:10 ESV 10 Know then that there shall fall to the earth nothing of the word of the Lord, which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Ahab, for the Lord has done what he said by his servant Elijah.”We should also trust in the great promise that the Lord Jesus Christ will someday return for His bride. He will come to judge the earth and to bring everlasting joy to his people. My point here church is that nothing can stop God’s plan to glorify himself in Christ. May we run to God and trust that He is all-wise and all-knowing.Revelation 21:5 ESV 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”(Close in Prayer) 1 Chronicles 17:16ESV
2 Corinthians 12:7ESV
2 Corinthians 12:8–9ESV
2 Corinthians 3:5ESV
Ephesians 2:8–9ESV
Titus 2:11–13ESV
Ephesians 2:4–7ESV
Romans 5:8ESV
John 14:6ESV
John 1:14ESV
Matthew 5:45ESV
Ephesians 2:4–7ESV
Luke 10:25–37ESV
Matthew 9:13ESV
Lamentations 3:21–24ESV
2 Peter 3:9bESV
- Doxology (Amen)
Antioch Odessa
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